Monday, April 5, 2010

Brainless

I was up very early on Saturday morning. It was a very late night for the family so everyone else was still in bed and I expected they would stay there for several more hours. I made myself a big cup of coffee and nestled up in my favorite spot on the sofa with my Morning and Evening devotional as well as my Spurgeon book, The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life. Everything was perfectly quiet. It was still dark outside, but all the critters knew daylight was on its way. The birds were starting to sing and there's that wonderful spring smell in the air. I absolutely love quiet mornings like this one. Even Jesse puppy finds her happy spot on the rug in the kitchen and waits patiently for me to do what I do in the early morning hours.

All of a sudden, in the middle of my perfectly quiet morning, I hear a rattling noise. At first I thought it was a big truck going down the road, but it kept getting louder. Then it stopped. Then it started again. Can I just say this noise was a very loud and unusual noise! Not only was it interrupting my nice quiet morning, I was afraid it was going to wake-up the rest of the house (i.e., there goes my nice quiet morning).

Then I realize what it is. It's a woodpecker. We have lots and lots of woodpeckers around, so this is nothing new. We have a beautiful pileated woodpecker in our woods along with downy woodpeckers, red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers and lovely northern flickers. I'm convinced, however, that this early riser either couldn't see straight or had knocked the sense out of his tiny little bird brain. He wasn't pecking at a tree. No. He was pecking on the galvanized steel chimney. This did not deter the little woodpecker though. He kept at it and kept at it and kept at it. I would have thought at some point he would have realized, "Hey, this isn't a tree...doesn't sound right, doesn't smell right, doesn't look right!" Nope. This woodpecker had obviously pecked one too many trees. I think his brain must have rattled inside his itty bitty skull just a little too much. I don't know, maybe an hour later, he finally gave up.

Do you know, that woodpecker was back at it again this morning. Great...just great. Last year it was the flying squirrels (although I keep thinking I'm hearing something up there again). This year, we're hosting a brainless woodpecker. Since the flying squirrels' home is right next to the chimney and sleep during the day, maybe these two varmints will get into it with each other and both will decide it's not worth the hassle...and leave. Let's hope so!

2 comments:

It's official. The flying squirrels are back. Or maybe they never left completely or maybe we didn't catch them all last year. Tonight the kids were outside playing and saw it with their own eyes...there they were, making sqeaky noises, jumping off the chimney and "flying" to their tree. Time to get out the trap. Blah. See, I was hearing things in the wee hours of the morning after all. I honestly thought it was just my imagination. They really are up there!

How many do you suppose there are? We could start a contest...leave a comment with your guess and whoever gets the number right, gets a prize. We'll have to keep that a surprise though...and I don't know how long it will take to get them all. No, I won't give you all the flying squirrels we catch either (unless, of course, you want them!) Last year, we caught 13. The question is...do they reproduce during the winter months?! Happy guessing!

Psalm 119:32

A Little About Me

I consider it a privilege to be the wife of Mr. Wonderful and a blessing to be a stay-at-home mother to two beautiful children. I once heard Elisabeth Elliot give this definition of motherhood--Shaper of Destiny. I have treasured in my heart these three little words as I raise my children. The simple things in life are precious to me. I am in awe of God's magnificent creation. I love living in the country, sapphire skies, getting my hands dirty, taking in the fragrance and beholding the beauty of flowers. Life is a gift. I thank God for each day I am given the opportunity to serve Him by caring for my family and those He brings into my life along this great journey.

3 John 1:4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Daniel Webster, 1852

If we work on marble, it will perish; if on brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and imbue them with principles, with the just fear of God and the love of our fellowmen, we engrave on those tablets something that will brighten to all eternity.

Corrie Ten Boom

Every experience God gives us, every person he puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.

Frederick M. Lehman, 1917

Love of God

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure--the saints' and angels' song.

Author Unknown

~Unsaid~

If all that we say in a single day, with never a word left out, were painted each night in clear black and white, it would prove queer reading, no doubt.

And then just suppose 'ere our eyes would close, we must read the whole record through, then wouldn't we sigh, and wouldn't we try, a good deal less talking to do.

And I more than half think that many a kink would be smoother in life's tangled thread, if half that we say in a single day were forever left unsaid.